


Friendships and Life as a Teenager

by EnchantedbookLover18



Series: Life of NCIS Teens [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Best Friends For Life, F/M, First Kiss, Other, Parents, families, friendships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 11:59:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17600948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnchantedbookLover18/pseuds/EnchantedbookLover18
Summary: Nick's and Ellie's daughter has to make a decision that could change her life forever - a lifelong friendship or a love that could turn her life upside down. But how did she get there in the first place? And what is she going to choose?





	Friendships and Life as a Teenager

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hellokaelyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Heartache](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17478692) by [Hellokaelyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn). 



> Sooo...This fic was majorly inspired by @Hellokaelyn's "Heartache" which belongs to the Charlotte series (I love it! And I soo hope you don't mind that I took inspiration from that! But I love reading your stories and the amount of stories you upload every day is just incredible!)  
> Some of this fic was also inspired by Criminal Minds because I recently started rewatching it so...
> 
> Oh, btw, this is written like a diary entry so don't get confused. I wanted to try something out but I'm actually not sure if I like it...

Dear diary (maybe I should give you a proper name?),

I don’t know how that could’ve happened. Friends weren’t supposed to do what _we_ had just done. Not when they were basically raised like brother and sister. Not when they actually knew _everything_ about each other. Especially not when it would possibly ruin their whole friendship and affect not only their lives but every other people’s lives they were close to. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

We were at my parents’ 15th anniversary party, in our backyard where we have all of our bigger partys if the weather plays along. This year, however, my dad Nick and my honorary grandpa Gibbs had built a beautiful white pavilion and we had placed some round tables around it. I had helped my mother decorating the tables and putting some of our colourful lights up in the trees. Watching my mum and dad dance in the new pavilion reminded me every time that true love actually does exist. They definitely have it. The way my dad looks at her even when she doesn’t see it says enough. Whenever my dad says something silly or tries to tease her, she can’t even pretend to be angry with him. For about five minutes she keeps a straight face but eventually she gives in and kisses him on the cheek before saying something into his ear. Once, I’ve asked her why she can’t be mad at him for long. Duh, isn’t she sometimes annoyed with him and his bad jokes and constant teasing? I am for sure. My mother Ellie just replied that they’d wasted too much time, before I was born, not telling each other how they felt. And now that they’d been together for over 15 years she didn’t see sense in being mad at him for something that in the end didn’t matter that much anyway. Besides, she actually loved his pranks. That is to say, my parents did fight sometimes – especially when mum thought that dad had given in on me too easy again. After all these years, they’re still madly in love with each other but ‘having no quarrels at all would be unhealthy, baby girl’ as my father usually puts it.

My parents are federal agents at NCIS together with my uncle Tim and my grandpa Gibbs and his wife, though grandpa’s already retired. Uncle Tim and his wife, my aunt Delilah (although biologically they’re of course not related to me) came to the party with their two children, Johnny and Morgan. Both were literally my favorite people in the whole world, besides my parents - but don’t tell anyone. Although they’re almost two years older than me, we do everything  together – high school, homework, hanging out before and after school. Our parents even had to build us a treehouse in my backyard together. We had bagged and bagged until they’d finally given in and with my grandpa’s help had built a beautiful treehouse, big enough so we would be able to use it as we grew older and taller, too. To be honest though, Gibbs did most of the work. If he hadn’t been an agent, he’d definitely have made a great career as a carpenter. His basement is full of stuff he built by himself. Especially when he was mad or stressed about something, he would go downstairs and build a boat or something…

After dinner in our garden, Johnny, Morgan and I climbed up the ladder to our treehouse to be for ourselves a bit. Even though we’re sixteen and almost eighteen now we still hang out here a lot. Up high in the trees it’s just so peaceful and all your worries seem so small. But things have changed since we first climbed up the now slowly rotten ladder to ‘our castle in the trees’. Morgan, who used to have dark blonde hair and had always a tooth gap because she fell of some tree or hurt herself riding her bike against their neighbour’s fence, recently dyed her hair partially. Now she has bright pink and violet highlights. Needless to say, uncle Tim didn’t like it. Her mum liked it but she didn’t want to offend her husband’s protectiveness. Apparently he had mumbled something like: “My little girl can’t walk around like that…Next time she’ll get herself a tattoo. That’ll be the end!” Tim is a really great father, I think, but he can be a little bit overprotective, especially towards Morgan. But eventually, Delilah had managed to talk him down reminding him that 1) their friend Abby has tattoos as well and he never minded those and 2) kids ‘our age’ had to experiment with their appearance or something. Don’t know, maybe she got that from one of these ‘Surviving through puberty’ – books they sell at the local bookstore. My aunt was always able to persuade him, he just couldn’t say ‘no’ to her. That’s how Morgan got her father to agree letting her go out on her first proper date when she was fifteen. What a struggle! It’s a mighty good thing he doesn’t know about Mo’s plan on dating our new quarterback, then. I bet he’d pull a full background check on him. Hell, my dad definitely would.

Johnny on the other hand is a little less ‘rebellious’ (why do parents call us that?) than his twin sister. He has the same dark blonde her but he’s taller than her and actually quite athletic. Johnny is the most athletic of the three of us, which isn’t surprising for I spend my time rather burying myself in books. In his junior year he even joined our school’s swimming team and he’s really good at it. He’ll probably even get a scholarship for college. But besides their looks, which they definitely inherited from their parents, and Johnny’s sports, they’re both super smart. Although Mo doesn’t like to show it off, she’s pretty good at mathematics and computer science. Jo prefers his biology and chemistry classes more though, winning one competition after another. Their parents always say that Morgan could share her brother’s spot at the top of every class if she’d wanted to. Too bad Mo rather spends her time watching old movies and going to our high school partys than poring over her text books. Without putting much effort into it she’s still on of the best of our school though. I’ll miss them so much when they’ll go away for college and start their bright new future. And leave me in our boring old school for another year all on my own…Alright, I confess it’s not like that I don’t have any other friends but Mo-Jo, that’s how I call them since kindergarten, are my best friends. We’re ‘The Inseparable Three’ as my mum Ellie used to call us whenever we refused to separate so Mo-Jo could’ve dinner with _their_ parents at _their_ own home.

Sitting cross-legged under my favourite fluffy blanket, I remember how we used to play up in the treehouse. Once, I believe we’d been six and eight years old, we’d pretended to be superheroes planning on how to save the world from an upcoming demon attack – or Lord Voldemort (as soon as we were allowed to read the Harry Potter novels). We’d even made our very own costumes, dark violet and green with a Batman-like emblem at the front. Well, fine, our mothers had done all the work and learned how to sew with the help of our parent’s friend, Abby. She does a lot of her clothes herself, super cool! But at least we’d had the idea for the colours and shapes. Our planning on how to save the world from an eventual attack had mainly involved sitting inside our treehouse with our beautiful lights on, playing cards while eating candy which we actually weren’t allowed to have…Sometimes we’d just sat up there, surrounded by the chirping of the birds and the calming rustling of the trees, and told each other stories and secrets. Our wishes and dreams, our worries and fears. I remember telling them once that I wished for a baby brother because I’d always envied their brother-sister-relationship. I figured having someone to conspire with against the parents would be awesome. A few months later, my little brother Clay was born. My parents named him after their special friend, whom we had never gotten to know because he’d died already before I was born. The one thing we’d all agreed on was that we wished for our parents to always come back home to us. Even though we hadn’t fully understood it then as we do today, we had known that their work could be dangerous at times. My parents are both NCIS agents – usually catching bad guys related to the Navy or the Marines – just like the twin’s dad. My mum had considered leaving her job for good after her maternity leave but eventually she decided otherwise. Aunt Delilah works at the Department of Defense which is not as dangerous as Tim’s work but just as time-consuming…

_Oh damn it, why didn’t I see this coming…How could I have been so stupid? It had happened before, when I was like five years old or something…I mean, I love Johnny, he’s my best friends but…Geez, someone tell me what to do pleeease!_

_♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥_

There had only been a few occasions before high school when I’d spend time alone with Johnny, mainly when Mo had one of her football practices (in junior high, later she ditched it) or when she had been so sick her mum wouldn’t allow her to leave the bed. This one day though had been different from the others. I remember how we had sat in the treehouse, rain splashing on the roof, the sky had looked like the world was actually going to end but I hadn’t felt cold at all. Maybe because it had been mid-summer and the days before it had been really hot. We’d talked about the new puppy Clay and I wanted to have but mum and dad refused to get us and how Johnny had gotten into trouble for doing one of his chemistry experiments after class without a teacher. He still did a lot of these little experiments. It had started when he was just a little boy who got his first chemistry construction kit for Christmas. Johnny had been a really curious kid, he’d observed the people in his social environment and sometimes when he thought they’d done something funny or unfamiliar to him he just had to try it out too. He didn’t really think about it, he just acted. I always admired him for this carefree attitude.

We had been playing cards while talking and eating and as I was about to give out another set of cards _something_ happened. Out of the blue and without any heads-up, Johnny kissed me, on the lips. An actually kiss. Of course it was quick, wet and totally awkward. I mean, we were just kids…He pulled away quickly, even faster than it had actually taken him to lean in and kiss me. Blushing, his whole face covered in red, he stared at me wide-eyed for a few seconds before staring at his hands.

“Um, uh…Sorry, Em,” Johnny had said not even able to look me in the eyes. The twins always used the short form of my name – Emily. Emily Kelly Torres. ‘Emily’ because my parents had finally been able to decide on a name they’d both liked just minutes before I was born. And ‘Kelly’ in honour of grandpa Gibbs and his daughter, who had died very young.

For a few minutes I’d just been able to stare at him, probably as wide-eyed as he’d looked at me. I had seen people kissing each other before, mum and dad did it all of the time. Apparently, people did it when they reeeally liked each other – like when they are married and stuff. I just hadn’t know why we should be doing it. Johnny had always been my best friend – and of course, I’d liked him then too – but our parents had always been pretty good friends, too, and they had never kissed each other before. On the lips.

“I saw Robby kissing Maeve in the school garden yesterday. And, uh, well…I guess I wanted to know how it would be like.” I had seen how embarrassed he was – his cheeks were still bright red and whenever our eyes ‘accidentally’ met, he looked away quickly. Of course, I hadn’t been really surprised by his explanation. That was typically Johnny. But I had still been a little confused…Weren’t we a little too young for doing such adult stuff..?

“Well, alright…But you’re practically my brother…and um, I don’t want to marry you now!” I’d exclaimed, the words basically blurting out. Grown-ups were usually married when they did this kissing stuff, _right_?!

“Me neither! Do you think we have to? I hope not. Maybe if we just don’t tell anyone about it, they won’t find out. Em, _please_ don’t tell anyone!” The look of embarrassment had quickly been exchanged for a look of total panic only a kid could have by the fear of getting _married_. _At the age of five_. Thinking about it now, I actually have to laugh. We _were_ cute children. So innocent and naïve only a child could be.

“We’ll just never do it again and nothing is going to happen. But don’t tell Morgan, I don’t think she’ll tell them but it’s better to keep it a secret. Just this once. Ok?” I’d looked at him to make sure he understood every word I’d said.

“Sure. It’s a deal. I’m still sorry, Emmy,” he took a shy glance at me, one side of his mouth slightly curled up – just like a cute puppy. The thing with Johnny was that nobody could be angry with him for long. Growing up, there had been quite a few times were his parents should’ve been really mad, for example for almost setting their living room carpet on fire. But his parents and _literally everyone_ , even our teachers, took just one look at his apologetic face and that _damn sweet_ smile and he was forgiven… He could be really annoying sometimes.

After that incident we really never talked about it again. When I was about twelve years old I’d developed a little crush on Johnny, though I’d never told anyone and it’d been over in a flash. Or at least I think so…? He’d just always been there for me and he’d been kind of my living hero for me, right next to my dad. Nobody else could steal a bag of my mummy’s favourite chocolate cookies and get away with it without _any_ punishment. My mother’d looked at him, and just like the others, ruffled his hair, shook her head and mumbled something like “Sweetie, of course you can have a few, if you ration them and don’t eat too many at once…” Come on, that’s just awesome! These cookies are the best…

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

While we had been sitting up there in the trees, talking about school and Mo’s dance class she wanted to drag me along, the party began to dissolve and our four parents went inside for some coffee and to take a look at some of my mum’s new paintings. We were just about to open our second bag of chips, when Delilah called Morgan down because of who-knows-what.

“Hey, Em?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I’m kind of afraid. I know it might not appear so and I know it’s probably stupid, but I’m frightened.” I could hear him swallow but I could barely see him anymore because it was getting darker.

“What are you afraid of, Jo?” I didn’t think Johnny would be afraid of anything.

“College..? A year from now, Morgan and I will be gone for college. I know Mo is totally excited about it. She can’t stop talking about all of these things she’s already planning to do and the people she’s going to meet. I should be happy, too, I guess. And in a way, I am. All that new stuff to explore and maybe a better lab for my experiments…But still, I’m so insecure because I don’t know what I really want to do. Sure, I like to spend time in my lab and chemistry is my passion. And dad keeps telling me that I can do whatever I want and what makes me happy. But what if I make the wrong choice? How do I know if it’s right?”

“Well, I always saw you as some crazy scientist like Einstein,” I said chuckling. But he knew I didn’t mean it seriously. “Your dad’s right though, Jo. I mean he usually is, but you can do whatever you want. You can literally be whoever you want to be. Sounds scary, right? However, you don’t need to know it now. Mum always tells me that good things take time and you’ll know when you’ve made the wrong choice. College isn’t starting before next summer and even then you can still decide when you’re at it, you know? No rush.”

“Thanks, Emmy. I knew you’d be able to talk me down. You just know me and my weird brain too well,” Johnny replied, a smile apparent in his voice. “I will miss you. It won’t be the same without you, it won’t feel complete, you know. The three of us, we’re a team. ‘The Inseparable Three’.” He sighed deeply.

“I know. I’ll miss you so-so much. I’ll probably be bored to death as soon as you’re off to college…I knew the day that we’d have to separate would come eventually – in the back of my mind I did – but I still can’t believe it’ll happen so soon. Even though I should be prepared for it, I just _know_ it’ll catch me off guard.” I had never told anyone _that_ before because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold back tears. “I hate _this_. You and Mo are my best friends. Besides my parents you’re the only ones who know literally everything about me. Sometimes, I actually believe you know me even better than your sister.” At those last words my voice turned down more and more. Suddenly, I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

Johnny squeezed my hand so I would look up at him. He lifted his right arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his strong arms. We stayed like this for a while, listening to our parents chatter and laughter which was barely hearable through the open windows.

Jo calmingly moved his hand over my back, whispering words of comfort in my ear. “I know it’s difficult. But we’ll make it work. Mo and I will come visit and _you’re not all alone,_ _silly_. We’ll always have your back; _I_ will always be by your side. And I understand what you mean; you know me the best too. You’re my person. You’re special to me, Emily Kelly Torres.” All of a sudden his voice sounded a little husky. My heart skipped a beat before it started beating again, faster this time. We’ve been friends since we were toddlers, so we’ve told each other how much we meant to each other. But _this_ felt different. Slowly as if I was afraid of scaring him off, I let go of his shoulders and tried to look him in the eyes. But before I could say something, I felt a light touch on my lips. Just a light brush, barely noticeable, but it was there.

I felt a rush cursing through my veins, my breath was suddenly shaky but I didn’t pull away. My body reacted without giving me time to think. I pulled him closer, our lips touching again, this time harder though. At first it was light and sweet; he tasted like orange juice and salted chips. But then his hand went into my hair, he cupped the back of my head and, if possible, we grew even closer. The kiss grew wilder and more intense, nothing like our very first kiss. It was steamy and hot. Eventually, just as we had to separate because both of us desperately needed air, my mother called us down from the open terrace door. Thank god, she couldn’t see us in the dark, sitting up there in the treehouse, passionately kissing each other.

Without even being able to look at Johnny, I jumped right up and rushed down to our parents who were just about to say their good-byes. Everything after that became a total blur. I only remember helping my mum a little with the clean-up and then I hurried to my room were I’m now seated on my bench under the window, snuggling into my extra big pillows. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. I basically ignored Johnny after _our kiss_. A really passionate and damn hot kiss. But I still ignored him…I couldn’t look him in the eyes, too embarrassed. My mind is a total mess right now. What did I do??? I can’t _kiss_ my best friend. I. Just. Can’t. …Alright, I know it’s already too late for that but it CANNOT happen again. Like never. This is going to ruin our whole friendship. And Mo! Oh my gosh, Mo! How could we do this? She’s totally going to kill both us if she finds out. Damn it, damn you Johnny McGee, why do you have to kiss like that?! It’s going to kill me… It’s never going to happen again. Sure, it was amazing – like literally the best kiss ever. But _no_! Don’t you _dare_ think about it again, Emily!

Kissing your best friend was never a good idea, right?

Love,

Emily

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a native speaker so if you spot any mistakes (of which there are probably a lot) please forgive me! :)  
> So I'm not quite sure yet if I'll continue this one or if there's going to be something new...but don't hestitate to leave suggestions or anything else. I'm also new on tumblr @enchantedbooklover18 :)


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